I can’t believe that just 11 short years ago I was worried about Haylee living a normal life, having friend, doing things the other kids were doing. And here we are 11 years later and Haylee has attended her first school dance.

I still think back to the day when she was born and I was told she had no fingers on her little hand. I remember thinking that day. Would Haylee be invited to school dances, would anyone want to go to a school dance with her because she is different. I remember wondering what was Amniotic Band Syndrome and how was it going to effect Haylee’s life.

People look at her now and ask me why were you ever worried.

That is an easy question to answer.

I was worried because I did not know ANYONE else that had been effected by ABS.

I did not have anyone to ask the million and one questions I had running around my head at the time.

Instead I assumed the worst when I could not find anything online except for negative.

But Haylee has amazing me beyond words, she is more than I ever imagined and has accomplished more than most kids her age has. And the best part. She has done it all with one hand.

Oh and the school dance went awesome and she had an amazing time. And told us that she did not kiss any boys…..

If you have ever meet Haylee face to face you will know you will totally know what I mean by this title. You meet Haylee and she instantly has this beautiful smile and eyes that look right deep down into your soul. She will instantly bring out the best in you and make you also want to smile ear from ear.

Haylee inspires so many more people then she will ever know.

Daily she inspires Jim and myself to be the fun loving parents we have always been and teach her that it is ok to be unique.

She has helped so many Mom’s or soon to be Mom’s realize that a hand change, or other limb difference is not anything to be afraid of.

But most importantly she brings out the best in herself.

If see wants to swim she does.

If she wants to ride a bike standing up she does.

If she wants to do a cartwheel she does.

Actually anything she puts her mind to she does.

But her most important job she says is to make people aware of Amniotic Band Syndrome but more importantly to teach other children that just because you are different and unique, don’t let that stop you from being the very best.

We are so excited to share with you our newest project, our new facebook group “Wonderful Wears”. What are we all about you’re probably wondering, right? Well, I’ll tell you. You know how fast our kids grow out of clothes, they are just little weeds aren’t they? Well, I thought to myself there is no sense in just tossing out our childrens specially made clothing. There are other kids who could use them so that is where Wonderful Wears comes from. This is a closed, private facebook group and we would love for you to join us there.

The Wonderful Wears facebook group is a parent to parent clothing exchange group for our specially made kids! As I mentioned before it is a closed group so you need to request an invite and the moderator will approve you. Please feel free to share this group with others you know who may be interested – parents, therapists, etc.

Because Haylee was born with nubs on her left hand instead of fingers we have had a few challenges with that hand. Some challenges are very serious. But others we try and make as much fun as possible. We never let Amniotic Band Syndrome get us down!

One of the issues that we have found is keeping that little hand of hers warm. Because she does not have fingers to always move on that hand then the circulation is not as good as it should be.

Often times her little hand will get cold or even worse it will start to turn purple. Normally we put on a sock that we got when she had flower her prosthetic hand. But a little hand sock is ok but Haylee wanted something cooler and more fun.

Well one day she came home from school with a cell phone cover that looked like a hoodie. And she had me open up the bottom so that she could slip it over her little hand. That was fun and cool but now we need different colors and more fun.

So I found someone on etsy that knitted and asked her to make us some sweaters for Haylee’s little hand. And I have to tell you it is such an awesome and fun way for Haylee to keep her little hand warm but super stylish.

If you have a little hand and want a sweater let me know and we would be happy to send you one too.